The Forbidden City is located at the center of the city of Beijing. First built in 1406 and completed in 1420, the city served as the royal palace in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the Ming and the Qing Dynasties, 24 emperors lived here. Apart from the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Complete Harmony, the Hall of Preserving Harmony, and the East and West Inner Palaces, tourists can also pay a visit to the Exhibition Hall of Historical Relics, the Hall of Treasure, the Hall of Paintings, the Hall of Arts and Crafts, the Hall of Ceramics, the Hall of Bronze Ware, and the Hall of Clocks.

Forbidden City , The Gugong, or Imperial Palace, is much better known by its unofficial title, the Forbidden City, a reference to its exclusivity. Indeed, for the five centuries of its operation, through the reigns of 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, ordinary Chinese were forbidden from even approaching the walls of the palace.

Today the complex is open to visitors daily 8.30am–4.30pm, with last admission at 3.30pm (￥55, students ￥20). You have the freedom of most of the hundred-hectare site, though not all of the buildings, which are labelled in English. If you want detailed explanation of everything you see, you can tag on to one of the numerous tour groups or buy one of the many specialist books on sale. The audio tour (￥25), available by the south gate, is also worth considering. You're provided with a cassette player and headphones and suavely talked through the complex by Roger Moore – though if you do this, it's worth retracing your steps afterwards for an untutored view. Useful bus routes serving the Forbidden City are #5 from Qianmen, and #54 from Beijing Zhan, or you could use #1, which passes the complex on its journey along Chang'an Jie.